Unused Content (Season 1)

There exists a lot of Unused Content that was cut from Life is Strange.[1] Through unpacking the game files, you can discover several files that weren't used in the game. Those files hint to a lot of plans DONTNOD Entertainment had for the game but which were discarded while under further development, mostly due to budget issues or unnecessity regarding the story. They also reveal a lot of additional information on the characters and their relationships, or possible alternate sequences.

At some point in the game's development, Rachel Amber was going to be called Jessie. The file name for the photo of Chloe and Rachel found under Chloe's bed in Chrysalis is "TX_Papers_PictureChloeJessie01_D". The postcard from Rachel is named in a similar fashion: "TX_Papers_PostcardJessie01_D".

In an early stage of the game's development, Brooke Scott was going to be called Hayley. References to this name can still be found in the game files; an animation sequence of Brooke flying her drone in "Chrysalis" is named "AS_E1_3A_CampusA_Hayley".

Although Trevor's surname was never mentioned in the game, a surname of "Johnson" exists for him in DONTNOD's original files, as confirmed by Square Enix's Life is StrangeCommunity Manager, Toby Palm.

A concept art by Edouard Caplain implies that in an early stage of development, Principal Wells' ethnicity/skin color was not decided yet. Designs for both a white and black skinned Wells exist. He is the one of two characters which concept art versions of different ethnicities exist for. The other being Evan Harris.

Alyssa Anderson was originally going to have blue hair. In one of the photos of Kate Marsh taken by David Madsen, Alyssa can be seen with blue hair. A concept art from the Limited Edition also displays her that way.

This location was cut from the game, but it hints at there having been a different ending for Episode 4. Jefferson was driving his car with Max as a passenger, and they were talking about Nathan. It is possible that the destination was the junkyard, since Jefferson was already aware of Max knowing too much and was intending to kill Chloe and drug Max by offering to drive them to the junkyard.

Dialogue options:

E4_9A_JeffCar_CHJefferson_Phase01_000="Call the police."

E4_9A_JeffCar_CHJefferson_Phase01_001="Kill him!"

Lines:

Cue_E4_9A_JeffCar_CHJefferson_Phase01_Jefferson_001="So Max, what are you going to do?"

Cue_E4_9A_JeffCar_CHJefferson_Phase01_Max_002="We should call the police."

There was a planned hospital scene for "Polarized" which was meant to happen between David saving Max in the Dark Room and the scene at the diner during the storm. In this quick scene, David would have brought Max to the hospital after freeing her from the Dark Room, but Max would have escaped to go get the photo from Warren. It was stated by Michel Koch that they scrapped this scene because it "didn't add much to the story and they preferred to focus their energy on more dialog and time between Max and Chloe after."[5]

In the third episode, after being dropped off by Chloe at Blackwell Academy, Max is then directly seen in her room. In the trailer for this episode, Max can be seen wandering around the main campus, likely headed for her dorms.

It was apparently possible for Chloe to die at the end of the confrontation with Frank on the beach in Episode 4 while trying to protect Max, as several unused audio files named "Chloedead" seem to indicate.